Tax authority officials have asked for Bolton - who slipped to the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday after losing 2-1 at Leeds - to be wound up after complaining that the club had not paid a £2.2 million bill.

But Registrar Clive Jones refused to grant a winding-up application by HM Revenue and Customs at a High Court hearing in London on Monday.

Mr Jones said the case would be reviewed in two weeks.

Barrister Hilary Stonefrost told Mr Jones that "significant progress" had been made "towards getting to the end of this process".

"Significant progress has been made," she said.

"A lot of progress has been made over the last two weeks."

She said Football League bosses were monitoring developments, and added: "The Football League has had a very careful look at what is proposed and set out conditions on how this should proceed."